Tarantulas of the World

The Colombian Giant Redleg tarantula comes from the tropical rainforests of Colombia and Brazil. Considered an average sized species they reach sizes of 6″ to 8″ in leg span at full growth. Known for their velevet black and red colors they are most definitely a beautiful species. They are fairly quick growers with males reaching maturity within 3 to 5 years and females growing to be up to 15 years old. 

Photo Credit: @Andrea.Arachnid

Habitat: The Colombian Giant Redleg is a terrestrial tarantula but can be an obligate burrower. Though their sizes can differ and mature species can be anywhere between 6″ to 8″ we recommend you keep them at full growth in a 10 gallon tank. Make sure you have at least 6″ of substrate to allow your tarantula to burrow should it feel the need to in addition to having a nice startup hide for it. As slings these can be kept in vial and later on a deli cup. Though the more hardier of Megaphobema sp. we recommend you keep the Megaphobema robustum at a slight lower temperature as most tarantulas. We recommend temperatures of 75°F to 84°F with a humidity of 70 to 85%. They do not do well with higher temperatures and a close eye on them should be kept. As always an overflowing water dish should always be kept in the enclosure.

Feeding: Overall great eaters we recommend flightless fruitflies when small slings and later switching it over to small pinhead crickets. Feel free to crush their heads to prevent them hurting your spiderling. You can feed your Megaphobema robustum a mixed variety of crickets, roaches, meal worms and locusts. Be careful of your tarantula being in pre-molt and not wanting to eat. If prey is not eaten within 24 hours of being placed in the enclosure feel free to remove and leave your tarantula alone for at least 1 week as she or he can be ready to molt.

Attitude: Though not aggressive, Megaphobema robustum have urticating hairs which they carry in both their abdomen and back legs. As a defense mechanism they tend to raise their abdomen and flick off a lot of urticating hairs compared to many other species. A fairly shy tarantula they prefer to run then to to show threat posture. They can bite, though harmless, can be equivalent to a bee sting.

A great tarantula overall and definitely should be part of any collection!

The Colombian Bluebottle tarantula is a rare species from Colombia. They are widely sought after due to their extremely blue abdomen which starts to change color as they go from spiderling to juveniles. These fossorial tarantula are very hardy and live a very long and healthy life with females outliving the males and full grown adults reaching a size of about 5 inches in length. They are relatively slow growers and will take a while to get to that size.

Habitat:

The Colombian Bluebottle Tarantula are fossorials and just love to burrow. As slings (spiderlings) you are going to want to keep them in a vial that is at least 1/2 to 3/4 filled with very damp moist substrate. They do prefer high humidity. As full grown adults you will need at most a 5 gallon tank that has more crawl space then height. We recommend at least 4 to 5 inches of coconut fiber substrate that is fairly damp. A hide should also be added as initial hiding place for your tarantula before it starts to burrow all through the enclosure. Temperatures should stay anywhere between 77 to 83 degrees with a humidity level of about 75 to 80 percent. The Colombian Bluebottle will spend most of its time underground but unlike many burrowers it does surface more often.

Feeding:

The Colombian Bluebottle Tarantula is a great eater and should be fed at most once a week. As spiderlings they should be fed a steady diet of flightless fruit flies and eventually small pinhead crickets. As juveniles to adults you can feed them a steady diet of cockroaches, locusts, crickets and even meal worms. Should you see that the insects are not consumed within 24/48 hours we recommend you remove them from the enclosure. It could be that your fossorial tarantula is in premolt or molting stages underground and needs to be left alone. Having prey in its enclosure at this time might be stressful for your tarantula.

Attitude:

This is a very skittish tarantula and should not be handled. They can be very fast and though they do not have a nasty attitude they can still bite and flick urticating hairs. Their bite is not lethal to humans and is as powerful as a bee sting.

We recommend this tarantula for the beginner keeper who already has some experience with tarantulas and is looking for a nice hardy fossorial.

Do you have a Colombian Bluebottle? Tell us about it or ask any questions. We ‘d love to hear from you. Comment down below!